Bfi Wants Incinerator, Recycling Center With Landfill

August 08, 1985|by RANDY KRAFT, The Morning Call

More than just a landfill is planned by Browning-Ferris Industries on farmland along the boundary line between Lehigh and Montgomery counties.

If it gets local approval, the Houston-based national waste management company plans to spend an estimated $100 million to $200 million for a solid waste management facility. It would include two landfills, an incinerator that would produce electricity and a recycling operation.

Yesterday, a BFI official said the company "absolutely" would not handle any hazardous wastes at the site. One of the double-lined landfill pits would hold garbage, and the other would be filled with ash from the incinerator and junk that can't be burned - such as old refrigerators and other large appliances.

James Kelly, a BFI market development representative, estimated the entire facility would cover up to 150 acres on a 1,100-acre farm the company plans to lease. The farm is in Lehigh and Montgomery counties.

Kelly will outline BFI's proposal to Lower Milford Township residents and township supervisors during a public meeting at 7:30 tonight in the municipal building on Chestnut Hill Church Road.

Depending on local reaction to its plans, BFI could decide to put the entire facility in Lower Milford in Lehigh or in Upper Hanover Township in Montgomery. Another possibility is that the operation would straddle the boundary line between the counties.

The proposed facility would accept 200 to 400 tons of trash a day. Kelly described it as a small operation. BFI hopes it will be the first of many such facilities the company establishes to meet the needs of "small jurisdictions" in southeastern Pennsylvania. Kelly said another site may be established somewhere in Lehigh but added no agreements have been reached with any other property owners.

"We would welcome conversations with any municipalities that would like to serve as a host community for a solid waste management facility," said Kelly.

The 1,100 acre farm is owned by Henry Fretz of Upper Hanover. The largest part of the property - nearly 600 acres - is in Lower Milford.

BFI cannot make final decisions on exactly where the facility will be on the farm and what it will include until engineering studies determine how much of the land is suitable. And it won't start spending money for such studies until it has local approval for the site.

Kelly said the days are gone when a landfill could be approved "through the back door" or with deals in smoke-filled rooms.

Yesterday, Kelly reiterated that the townships will help determine what is included in BFI's proposed facility.

The BFI official stressed residents of municipalities approving the company's proposal will be assured of a place to take their trash for many years "at very reasonable rates" at a time when southeastern Pennsylvania is facing a waste disposal crisis and trash-hauling fees are skyrocketing.

"We can guarantee disposal, something no one else in southeastern Pennsylvania can really guarantee," said Kelly.

BFI intends to seek changes in zoning for the Fretz farm from both Lower Milford and Upper Hanover. Kelly said if one township agrees to make the zoning change but the other does not, the entire facility could be located in one township.

He explained a change in zoning will be needed only for the parcel where the facility is located, not for surrounding lands. The land BFI wants in Lower Milford is zoned residential/agricultural. The land in Upper Hanover is zoned for light industry, commercial operations and homes.

About 60 acres of the Fretz property also are in Hereford Township, Berks County, but Kelly said BFI does not plan to put the facility on that small section. Because no zoning change will be necessary in that township, BFI does not plan to make a presentation to Hereford supervisors unless they request it.

Kelly said the company plans to use some of the land as a buffer zone.

Yesterday, he could not estimate how long it may take before the townships determine where BFI can proceed.

Kelly said BFI does not have specifics to discuss with township officials, because more detailed work on developing the proposal won't be done until the company gets zoningapproval. But he did provide some "conceptual" information about the proposal.

He said the sanitary landfill could begin operating within three years and an incinerator unit would go into operation within five years. He said it is much more difficult to do technical planning for an incinerator than a landfill and noted the company would be able to go into business at the site sooner by not waiting until an incinerator is operable. He said eventually about 70 percent of all waste going to the proposed facility would be incinerated.